Az. immigration law gets Supreme consideration

UPDATE: The Supreme Court granted certiorari in U.S. v. Arizona, agreeing to decide whether federal immigration law preempts an Arizona law that authorizes police to verify the immigration status of individuals who are detained. More updates to come on Lawyers USA online.

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When the health care law challenge landed before the Supreme Court, it took the justices only one conference to decide to grant certiorari. Today another potential blockbuster case with major political ramifications could be added to the Court’s docket after just one look: the challenge to Arizona’s controversial immigration law.

During Friday’s conference, the justices considered the certiorari petition from Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer in the case U.S. v Arizona, which asks whether federal immigration law preempts an Arizona law that authorizes police to verify the immigration status of individuals who are detained.

The Arizona Legislature in April 2010 passed a law requiring police to check the immigration status of an individual who is stopped, detained or arrested if a “reasonable suspicion” exists that the person has entered the country illegally. The statute further authorizes police to make a warrantless arrest when probable cause exists that an individual has committed an offense that makes them removable from the country.

More on this and any other newsworthy developments from the Court, which is also set to release opinions today, on this blog and Lawyers USA online.